Left Behind
by lifeisntamusical
Summary: Three turtles and one rat escaped that night, fleeing to the sewers. One was overlooked, left behind to fend for himself. All things considered, he probably wouldn't survive. But he needed to, he had to find the others.
1. Mutation and Escape

**Hey...don't ever believe me when I say I'm not going to start any new stories. I'm a liar. But I really liked this idea, so...um...yeah...**

**I don't own TMNT.**

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Pain blinded him, bringing him to his knees. He hissed, gripping the concrete beneath him with a grimace. He had to leave, find a place to hide. If someone saw him looking like this, he'd be killed on spot, or taken in for experimenting. And the young turtles he had bought, they had been hit as well, and he had no idea what had happened to them.

Forcing himself through the agony, he crawled back towards the green puddle. Eyes closed from pain, he reached out blindly, scooping up three new mutants in one grab. Wrapping them in his arms, he stood on shaking legs, tears blurring his vision as he tried to think. His eyes landed on a manhole, and he stumbled towards it, pulling it open. Police sirens rang through the air as he pulled his new family into the sewer.

He landed in knee deep water, the grime splashing against and soaking his new fur. The triplets wriggled in his arms, so he wrapped his arms tighter around them. Control now back in his grasp, he began to wander through the dark tunnels. Stumbling through for what felt like hours, he eventually came across an old station, one he considered far enough away from civilization to keep them safe.

He wrapped the children up in an abandoned curtain, deciding food and water would be worried about in the morning. For now, his brain was frazzled, and he needed to rest. Laying down beside the wriggling pile, he closed his eyes, but kept himself awake until he heard three steady snores. Three. That number was important, somehow, but he couldn't...he was so tired...he needed...sleep...

On the surface, wrapped in a discarded magazine, russet eyes stared out. Multiple beings, ones like the creatures he had seen before, were talking. They were so loud, ringing through his ear slits, and he whimpered, shrinking back as much as he could. The words seemed to bounce through the alley, but he only caught a few. Even those meant nothing in his mind, just blank slates for him to draw on. "Liquid...yelling...citizen complaints...pet shop." Those words, they meant something to him. That's were he was before...that was important.

Eventually the discussion ended, and the turtle crawled out of his hiding spot. He stared at his new surroundings, trying to make sense of it all. Where were the others? He had been with others, others of his kind, and they were gone. He reasoned thy had left with the two legged one who had taken them, and he wanted desperately to see them again.

The child tried to pull himself up like he had seen the other things do, but his legs were unsteady, and he toppled to the ground. Pain exploded through his knees and hands, and his lips quivered, tears streaming down his face. He struggled to stand again, knees shaking as he hit the ground again. This continued for a few hours, until his legs were covered with bits of gravel and red liquid.

His stomach hurt too, and his head felt like he was hitting the concrete in his glass home over and over again.

Most of these couldn't be fixed, but when his stomach started to hurt in the 'pet shop', they gave him something. Feed, he thought it was called. They could give him more of this feed, help him out. Before he could expand on this thought, a light hit him, one much different from the dark shadows of his current place and the harsh lights of his former home. This light seemed...warm, comforting somehow.

Churring, he crawled into a patch of the light, gasping as the heat seemed to flow through his entire body. Curling up, he sighed a couple times before falling asleep in that spot, blissfully unaware of footsteps growing louder.


	2. New Home

**Wow, this story got a lot more attention than I thought it would! Thank you to everyone who favorited, followed, or left a review on this story! This chapter is a bit rusty due to medical issues, but I really wanted to get it out and posted, so I hope you enjoy! The beginning is definitely where I had the most trouble, but I think it's alright. I hope you guys enjoy the cruel irony with our little turtle and his 'name', as it slightly broke my heart thinking about it.**

**I don't own TMNT.**

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_Flames licked at the edges of his vision, burning his eyes. He held an arm against his face, trying to guard himself as he stepped forward. Something was pressing against his chest, holding him back. He could hear a child screaming, crying, and he had to get to her. He had to save her..._

He woke up to actual cries, multiple ones echoing through the room around him. Above him was a concrete ceiling, and from what he could see, concrete walls. Sunlight filtered in from some sort of vent in the ceiling. Breathing heavily, he reached up to wipe his eyes and was frozen by the sight. His hand, once human, was now pink and bony. The sight reminded him of the rats sold inthe pet shop. This brought back a flash of a memory, and he moved his gaze to the rest of his body.

He was covered in brown fur, and his feet had been affected in much the same way as his hands. Shaking, he touched his face, closing his eyes in horror when he felt a long nose and soft wiskers instead of his normal features. He was a rat, but not a normal one, not by any standards. He reminded himself of a monster from a cheap science fiction movie. He was some sort of hybrid, a freak.

His study of his new appearance had distracted him from his situation, and he snapped back to his senses. Deciding his problem would have to be set aside, he turned towards the source of the crying and gasped.

Three beings were curled around each other not a foot away from him. They were sobbing, clutching on to each other like they were beloved stuffed animals. The way they held themselves was that of a human toddler, and they shared many appearance traits with one. However, their skin was various shades of green, and a shell covered their torso. They were hybrids as well, turtle-like humans, or perhaps human-like turtles.

Seeing them brought back a flood of memories, small snippets of the night before, and he struggled to sort them through. Closing his eyes, he went through everything one at a time, distinguishing between his nightmare and reality.

He had stopped by the pet shop for a new friend. After much deliberation, he ended up with four baby turtles. After leaving the building, he was bumped into by a strange man and followed him. What was the saying? Curiosity killed the cat. He smiled slightly at his choice of words, the cruel irony hitting him. Yes, curiosity killed the cat, bringing him back as prey for his former self.

Amused, he returned to his task. A green ooze had hit him and, if their appearance was anything to go by, the turtles. He had been in the worst pain of his life, worse than the incident before. In a rush, every noise magnified and vision blurry, he had grabbed his former pets and pulled himself into a manhole. He roamed for hours until he arrived at an empty subway station, falling asleep soon after.

A twinge of sorrow hit him as he glanced at the three turtles. They were no longer crying, having reduced their noise to soft whimpers. He reached out for the closest one but paused, the beginning of his story nagging at his mind. He had left the store with four turtles, but only three were here. Standing up, he searched the room, hoping the fourth had simply wondered off, but in his heart, he knew what had happened. He had left the child on the surface, and by now, he could've been taken by someone, killed, or worse. He mentally slapped himself. Yes, he had been confused, but he had left a child behind, a mutant that could be all over the news by now. He could've subjected this child to horrible, horrible things.

He walked towards the exit, ready to go check if, by some miracle, the kid was still alive. He passed under a patch of light and stopped in his tracks, looking up at the world above. It was daytime. If he went now, he would no doubt be caught. Not to mention the other turtles, who he had been so quick to leave behind. He would have to start thinking more clearly if he was to make it through this.

Taking deep breaths, he turned back to the children, kneeling down beside them. Tonight, he would search for the missing turtle, but first, he needed food, for himself and the other three in his care.

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The turtle sighed happily. Whatever this light was, it felt amazing. So warm, comforting, and it made it so easy for him to relax. Now, he was well rested, but he wasn't ready to move just yet. Maybe if he stayed there, he could go back to sleep. He was still exhausted from the night's activities, after all.

Just as he managed to drift into dreamland, he was awoken by multiple gasps. Blinking, he pulled himself into a sitting position, carefully making out the image before him.

Three of those beings stood in front of him, staring down in a none too positive way. One of them spoke, her words making their way to the turtle's head. "Freak. Freak? What was that? It had to be referring to him, as she was looking right at him. The prospect excited him. He heard these beings call each other things all the time, but he had never gotten one besides 'turtle'. He was supposed to be called 'freak', not turtle. Yes, this made much more sense! Giggling softly, he clapped his hands together. He finally had something to be called!

This joy was short lived as rough hands yanked him up.

The next thing he knew he was being shaken, and three sets of eyes examined him. One of them pulled out a piece of metal and plastic, pushing a few buttons before beginning to speak into it rapidly. Suddenly self-conscious, he shrank back, pulling his head into his shell.

This resulted in him being turned upside down and staring at the ground that seemed miles away. One voice began to reprimand another, which answered in annoyance. As the two argued, the turtle stared at the ground in shock. Shrieking, he began to wiggle, eventually pulling away from the grasp that held him.

He fell to the ground, a sharp pain radiating throughout his body. Ignoring the yells behind him, he tried to stand, forgetting his earlier lesson. Hitting the ground yet again, he gasped, rolling over to see the beings towering over him, reaching out to grab him again. "It'll be okay. We're going to take to a safe place."

These words meant nothing to him, only sparking more fear. Searching for an escape route, he began to panic, until his eyes landed on a hole.

Yellow tape surrounded the area, but he could get through it. He just had to get past the beings and into the hole, and he'd be alright.

Staring up at their faces one last time, he waited until the hands were inches away before jumping between pairs of legs. He crawled as quickly as he could, pulling himself forward until he had reached the yellow barrier.

Scrambling through it, he pulled himself through the hole to the sounds of distant sirens and scarily close shouts.

Instantly, he was in a free fall, screaming as he tried to find a hold on something, anything. This was to no avail, and he hit water below with a sharp snap.

Instinctively holding his breath, he stayed under, staring through the ripples at light shining through. It was a solid circle, with no shadows blocking it, but he stayed still until he felt as though his lungs would explode.

Pulling up with a gasp, he floated in the water. Voices sounded above him, and he made the decision to swim, ducking under the surface and moving away from the light. As hopeless as he was moving like the beings were, he did fine in water.

After a few minutes of swimming, he grew tired, drifting to the side of the tunnel until he had a grip on the ledge. Leaning his head against it, he rested for a moment before lifting his eyes and looking around.

Some distance away, an empty doorway lead to a large, round room. Curiosity peaked, he pulled himself in, peering closer.

A ledge surrounded the perimeter of the room, but the center was filled with water. A waterfall roared down on one side of the circle. Freak, as he had begun to call himself, followed the flow of the water from the hole it was spilling out from, to the center of the room and out, until he had turned around and was looking back the way he came. No wonder he had gotten tired so easily. He was swimming against the water, not with it.

Proud of himself for deducing that, Freak pulled himself into the room, soft laughter escaping him as he was pulled into the center and pushed back out. Flipping onto his back, he kicked towards the ledge, pulling out of the water and going to investigate the waterfall.

To his delight, he could slip behind it. A small path entered into a tiny version of the room on the other side. There wasn't a pool so much as a small puddle of water, and the rest of the area was dry. Turning around, it was nearly impossible for him to see the rest of the room, which provided him with a feeling he didn't get very often in his old glass tank.

Turning his attention to the puddle, he dipped a finger in to see just how deep it was. This observing was interrupted by a movement in corner of his vision. He ducked closer to the water, studying the moving surface.

He could just make out some sort of person with dark eyes and green skin. Somehow, Freak understood that he was looking at himself. He didn't look like those other, much louder beings. He also didn't look like the ones he used to live with, either. All in all, he looked pretty...what was the word they used in the pet store sometimes? Cool. He looked cool. His face broke out in a grin, and he was distracted once more by a gap in his smile. He stuck his tongue into the gap, smiling in amusement. It reminded him of the smaller beings that came into the pet store and looked at him sometimes.

He had decided that this would be a new home. The water wasn't as clean as what it was in his old home. In fact, it was coated with a green slime, and every noise he made echoed loudly, but it was all his.

A pang in his stomach reminded him that he had never gotten anything from the pet store. He couldn't go back, what if they were still there? No, he would have to find something himself. What that was, he didn't know, but hopefully he'd know when he found it. Yes, he'd get food, and then he'd look for the others.


	3. New names and New food

**I really should be updating my other stories, but I'm having so much fun with this one, I just had to do another chapter! My medical issues have turned into me being incredibly sick, so this chapter is just as rusty if not more so as the last chapter. Again, thank you for all the reviews, follows, and favorites, and enjoy the story!**

**I don't own them.**

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Gathering food with three small turtles would be no easy task. They were constantly pushing at and pulling away from each other, making a task as simple as picking them up take ages. It was because of this that the man considered himself lucky to have found a subway station with a fountain.

He was aware of turtle feeding habits, having owned a few terrapins in Japan. The pool was covered in algae, and worms surrounded the area. Turtles ate both of these in the wild, and he had no reason to believe they wouldn't eat it in their current state. The three were whining even as he leaned over the pool to gather the food, and as long as it had been since they had been fed, he was sure they would eat anything.

Being a man raised in etiquette, he made each turtle sit down before serving them. Granted, they had no plates or silverware, but he managed to keep things nicely separated. Almost as soon as the food was placed in front of them, the children began to eat, stuffing food into their mouths and moaning noise reminded him of another child he once knew. The thought made his heart ache, and that only intensified as he studied the turtles. They were so young, not even able to speak outside of a few repeated words, and they had already been through so much. He had at least been able to enjoy life for a few decades before it was destroyed, but they would spend their entire lives hiding.

He began to wonder if it was better to be a pet or to spend life like they would have to, leaning towards the former if only because as a pet, you wouldn't realize what was happening. Immersed in his thoughts, he didn't register a tugging on his fur until it rose to his sensitive whiskers.

Twitching his nose, he turned to see one of the turtles. His eyes were dark blue and had seemed so serious, even before the transformation had happened, and the man had begun to think of him as the oldest.

"Yes, child?" The turtle looked down at his hands, fidgeting before mumbling something indistinguishable. It was turtle-like in its churring, but it was also reminiscent of a baby's gibberish. The turtle looked up again, and it must have registered the confusion on the man's face, as it began to chatter again, gesturing at its brothers as he did.

The man moved his eyes to the other two. Their makeshift 'plates' were empty, as was the other's, but one area had algae pushed into it as thought were filling in a gap. The man quickly understood what they had done. Yes, they were children, but they were intelligent, and they had assumed he had forgotten to feed their brother. And now, they were asking where he was.

"He...isn't eating today." The turtle blinked slowly before nodding and running back to the others. He mumbled something, and they responded by picking up the saved food and stuffing in into their mouths.

The man knew he needed to name them. He couldn't continue calling them its, as they were so much more. He had a few names picked out when he bought them, but they seemed like names you would only give a pet, nothing you would give to someone who could actually understand what it meant. But, he mused, they could always go by nicknames. And it wasn't as though they would be meeting anyone else in their lifetimes. No, the names he had picked out would be fine.

Two of the brothers had begun to smear leftovers on each other's faces, and the man knew they would need a bath soon. He couldn't use the water here, as that would only make them dirtier, but they had to be cleaned. His apartment would still have running water, and he needed to pick a few things up anyway. Besides, the pet store wasn't far from his apartment, and he was planning to search for the other turtle. A glance at the ceiling told him the sun was going down, and he stood.

"Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo." The three looked up instantly, hands and faces covered in algae. The smallest cooed, poking himself in the face as if confirming that he was being spoken to. "Yes, you, Mikey." Mikey giggled, poking himself repeatedly. His green eyed brother glared at him, reaching out to slap his hand when he wouldn't stop. "Raphael." The man warned firmly before continuing his earlier statement. "We are going to..." Here he paused. He couldn't tell them they were going to get his brother in case they didn't find him, but he didn't feel right lying to them at such a young age. "We are going to get some supplies for our home. Leo, do you think you can walk so I can hold your brothers?"

"Le...oh?" The terrapin whispered, smiling and nodding. He stood, nudging his brothers with the edge of his foot until they followed suit. Before the man could make a move to pick them up, Leo poked him, churring again. Learning from before, the child launched into an explanation immediately, pointing at himself-'Le-oh', and his brothers-'Raf-el' and 'My-key-o', respectively. Then he pointed at the man, opening his mouth slightly.

"You want to know my name?" He had a name, once, but it didn't seem to fit him anymore. He wasn't the man he used to be, and a new name needed to go with that change. An old nickname floated to the front of his mind. "You may call me...Splinter."

Raphael made a noise, gesturing towards the spot they had set up for their missing brother. Splinter, beginning to understand them, sighed. "Your brother, when we find him, will be called Donatello."

"Done-tel-oh." Leo responded. Not be to outdone, his brothers quickly tried to say the name themselves, stuttering through it, but overall, succeeding.

"Yes," Splinter whispered. The three stared at his empty spot, bringing their eyes to Splinter's questioningly. "He...will be here soon." He held on to the last bit of hope he had that the fourth turtle had managed to stay hidden, making a silent wish that this hope not be empty. Ignoring his prior decision to keep their destination a secret, he scooped up the younger two. "In fact, we're going to find him now."

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Freak held up the wriggling thing in his hand, scrunching his face up. This looked like what the beings gave him before, but he didn't remember them looking so unappetizing. However, he didn't have another option. The hard surface below and around him couldn't possibly be eaten, and so far, nothing else had revealed itself.

No, he was stuck with whatever this thing was. Perhaps it would've been easier for him to eat if it wasn't moving so much. Taking a deep breath, he dropped the thing into his mouth, choking as it slid directly down his throat. Coughing, he hit his chest a couple times. Once the thing went down, he whimpered, rubbing his neck.

Making a note to never drop it in like that again, Freak picked up another one, placing it on his tongue. The initial taste wasn't too bad, but the way the thing moved in his mouth nearly brought him to tears. Once he began to chew, this thought was lost as the taste hit him and he was caught in a gagging fit. Whining, he closed his eyes as he chewed, eventually managing to swallow the thing.

Rubbing at his tongue, he decided he was done. His stomach was still hurting, but it wasn't worth more disgust for the time being. Instead, he turned his attention to the pool of water in the center of his home. Water was good. He trusted water. Reaching his hands in, he scooped up a handful of the liquid. Ignoring the green tint, he poured the water into his mouth, swallowing it quickly.

This decision proved to be worse than his first one. The green slime slid down his throat, leaving a thick film in his mouth. The water itself tasted horrible, and he swore multiple somethings were moving inside of it.

The thought of those little tiny things filling his water was too much. Freak didn't even manage to lean over the water before vomiting, the contents of his stomach falling over his torso. Disgusted and exhausted, he fell down, choking. His stomach hurt more than it did when the ordeal started, and he still needed to look for the others. But he was so tired, and his stomach was making awful noises, and for now, he would sleep.


	4. Progress

**Oh look, I'm updating. Months later. Seriously, I'm sorry this took so long, but lots of stuff has been going on and I had trouble writing. Thank you for all the favorites and follows I've continued to gain despite my absence, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! This will actually be the last you see of little Donnie, outside of memories, that is. Next chapter should be updated quickly, as it's mostly snippets of things I couldn't (read: was too lazy to) turn into full chapters, crammed into the form of a story. After that, we're getting to our boys as preteens and up, and then we'll be getting to the fun parts. So, again, sorry for the extended break, and hopefully this makes up for it!**

Soon after departure, Splinter began to regret his decision to bring the turtles. No, he didn't regret it, not really: he had no other choice. It wasn't as if he could call a babysitter for an hour while he went to search. He had no choice, and that was the part he regretted.

It had been a few hours at this point, hours of searching for the fourth little turtle. Raph and Mikey had grown restless much earlier, but he didn't trust them to not run off if he weren't holding onto them—he had left them with Leo for a few minutes to check the area where the accident had happened. A desperate search later, he returned with the knowledge that either the turtle had escaped to the sewers or was going through unspeakable torture to see Leo trying to drag his more violent brother away from the smallest. The two, angry and exhausted despite having been carried, had settled themselves to hitting each other and pulling at Splinter's fur, an activity he found irritating, at best.

With the surface a failed try, he wanted to go home, or back to the place he had adopted as a home. He would've, but Mikey looked up and babbled something about 'A-tello' with wide eyes, and he knew he had to at least try. Splinter didn't know what was going through their young minds, if they knew how important Donatello should be to them or if they simply wanted to play what must've seemed like Hide and Seek. He didn't know if they truly missed their brother or if they only noticed the gap without him there. Whatever the cause for their concern, he knew that eventually, he had to find the other turtle.

Leo, at least, was quiet, studying every part of the sewer as though his brother could be hiding in a brick or behind a piece of litter. At times, he would run ahead to look around corners and duck into tunnels, but he never left Splinter's sight. To him, it was an adventure, going to find his brother. However, as the trip continued, he grew tired and as irritable as his brothers. The three had begun to stutter things Splinter couldn't understand, but if their tones were anything to go by, they were complaining. He realized that as their voices developed, they would only complain more, and soon he felt like dropping the children and leaving.

He didn't, of course. One could think of doing these things all one wanted, but he never would. It was his fault they had become what they were, and he would take care of them at least until they could take care of themselves.

Another hour of searching and Splinter had decided that the turtle couldn't be in the sewer. Despite the long hours and how late it was-or perhaps how early, he couldn't be sure-the turtles were still awake, so he decided that going to his apartment was still a valid idea.

Finding the apartment itself was easy—he only had to glance out sewer grates to see where he was. Though he got turned around a few times, eventually he arrived in the alley behind the building. Getting three rambunctious children into the apartment without notice, that would be the hard part.

Deciding the easiest method was to run up the staircase behind the building, he kneeled down so Leo could hold on to his shoulders. The ladder itself was hardly used, an old thing with peeling paint that Splinter had hardly glanced at, but it now seemed like a blessing. It was sturdy, he knew this from the few times he had to use it as an exit, and few windows faced it. The ones that did had dark curtains, insuring that the occupants wouldn't have to see a dirty alley in the comfort of their homes.

Hoping anyone around was a heavy sleeper, Splinter took a deep breath before pushing the manhole cover aside and stepping into the alley. He need not have worried—three gasps came from his arms and the children fell silent. A glance told him they were looking at the sky, blinking at the twinkling lights, and he sighed, imagining how they would've reacted in a forest, somewhere they could've truly seen the stars.

There was a brief moment of fear when Splinter wasn't sure if he had unlocked his door. If he kept it locked, this entire mission would be useless. Again though, this fear was brief and dissipated when he turned the knob.

As soon as the door was shut, he set the three down, and they all ran off to explore. The apartment, though small, made Splinter feel at home. This was the only place he could find in New York, and it had become one for fresh starts and trying again.

A look at his kitchen floor, smeared with sewer water and who knew what else, he decided baths would come before supplies. He knew he wouldn't be able to keep the three as clean as they needed to be, but for now, it would have to be sufficient.

He opted to shower first, occupying the boys with his television, turned to the first cartoon he found. As he stood in the hot water, swirls of mud and brown fur went down the drain, and he closed his eyes, thinking of his young bride and bright flashes of blue-green and orange, taking life as he knew it away.

The apartment was still quiet when he left the bathroom, the three staring at the flashing screen, mouths agape. He had dried himself off as best he could, but it was hard to get every piece of fur and he ended up half-fluffy, half-damp.

The mutation hadn't changed his body size much, he noted as he tied an old robe around his body. The children would bathe after he packed.

It didn't take long, as he knew he couldn't bring much and carry the children back to the subway station. He filled a garbage bag with his clothes and as many blankets as he could find before returning to the kitchen.

Being a man who lived alone, he didn't have much food children would enjoy. After shuffling through the cabinets, he found a box of crackers and placed it in a separate bag, followed by any other nonperishable goods and a can opener. This bag would be too heavy to carry tonight, but he would return for it on a later trip.

Bathing the turtle went as expected. He was glad he had put on an older robe, as it was completely ruined by the end of the ordeal. His bathtub itself ended up with a film covering the bottom that wouldn't go away no matter how long he ran water over it. But the children were clean and wrapped in fluffy towels, so he considered it a job well done.

An hour later, they were back in the tunnels, the garbage bag tied around Splinter's wrist. Raph and Mikey had long since fallen asleep in his arms, and, despite his sorrows, Splinter smiled at their hands, intertwined as if to remind each other that they were family. Leo wouldn't let Splinter hold him, but stumbled behind, leaving Splinter to stop and wait for him every so often.

Now that they weren't searching, they arrived at their home rather quickly. Splinter set a blanket out, and the three were out before it fully settled on the ground. He was tired as well, but he needed to explore their home and make a plan.

It seemed this station had been abandoned sometime in the last stages of building. There were multiple empty rooms, and even a small kitchen that Splinter reasoned would've been part of a diner or something similar.

The real find was a bathroom, complete with a few shower stalls and a fine mirror behind elegant sinks. He didn't dare to let himself hope, hand shaking as he reached for the faucet.

He was rewarded with water, the sound of its rush echoing off the walls. He didn't know why the station had running water, how long it would last, or anything else, but to him, it was a blessing. He could bathe, he could drink proper water, he could keep them alive. He felt like shouting in enjoyment, and nearly did, the reminder of the children stopping him.

He remembered the outlets he had seen all around the station. If there was water, there could be electricity—he had never turned on any lights, as he had thought there was no chance of them working.

He could bring the television back, along with the box of old DVDs he had been planning to donate. He would do so the next night, as they slept, and continue until this new place was a home. But for now, he would sleep.

The turtle woke up coughing, dried vomit on his plastron. He felt better, though in desperate need of a bath. He was tired, but the world wasn't spinning, and neither was his stomach, so he considered himself the picture of health.

He stared at his pool of water for a long time before deciding to bathe himself in it. After all, it was already gross enough to make him sick, so it wasn't like he'd be ruining the water or anything like that. Besides, he needed to get the gunk off him at any cost.

The bath itself was uneventful—he dipped in the water, rinsed himself off, and got out less than two minutes later. This simple task done, he had nothing else to do. He had assumed it'd take longer, but he hadn't wanted to be in that cesspool any longer than absolutely necessary.

He was thirsty, though, and this led to another ten minutes of contemplation. Should he drink the water and risk getting sick again, or should he just let himself be thirsty? Some part of him knew the second option wasn't really a choice; he'd die pretty soon if he didn't get rid of his dry throat. He wasn't sure how he knew that, just that a little voice was telling him that, and he felt like that voice was pretty important.

He laid on his stomach, head hanging over the edge of the water in case he did puke again. With a slight grimace, he scooped up the water. It took a moment before he actually lifted his hands to his mouth, long enough that the water had mostly drained back into the pool. Only a few drops ended up in his mouth, but it was enough for him to notice a significant difference.

He had scrunched up his face, ready for the slimy goop that he gulped down yesterday. But today, the water was...almost okay tasting. He paused before drinking anything more, trying to figure what could've made the water better. A minute later, he scooped up another handful of water and let most of it drain out before drinking it.

Instantly, his face lit up and he gasped. That's how it worked—drink less and you couldn't taste it as much! He giggled, pride swelling in his heart. Sure, it was an accident, but he had figured something out!

He spent the next hour simply scooping, draining, and drinking water. By the end, his hands were covered in a slimy layer, and as he scrubbed his hands, he thought about the others.

He wondered if they had figured out how to get good water, or if they were still somewhere where they were given clean liquid. He hoped it was the latter, and that they were together, wherever they were. It'd make it easier to find them if they were all in one spot. He also began to wonder what had happened to the 'hyu-mon' (he had heard store workers refer to them as such when talking to the animals) that took them away from their safety in the first place, as well as those other hyu-mons that had shaken him and given him his name.

He didn't understand how he felt towards them—he wanted to hurt them, but that seemed like such a mean thing to do. But then, they had separated him from his family, dropped him on his shell, and so much more. They were bad, and he found himself missing the nice hyu-mons, the ones who would smile as they fed him a green leaf and clean his home for him.

This led to him missing the other turtles who had been in the enclosure. Yes, there were three that he had considered his, and he had been terrified when he got chosen by the hyu-mon before them. But there were others, who crawled over him and pushed his turtles over and were playful, and he missed them almost as much. He wondered what became of them—were they hurt like he was?

He hoped they weren't, and he hoped they were. This existence was so different from his previous—his thoughts made more sense, they were longer, and he had at least a few more words. But then, becoming what he was now was excruciatingly painful and made his body quiver just thinking of it, and it was a hassle finding food for himself.

As he thought about all these things, water began to drain out of his eyes, and he swiped at it in irritation. It made sense that water that went it would come out, but he had spent a long time getting the water inside him, and he wasn't going to lose all his hard work because of whatever this was.

He was hungry again—the little voice was telling him to go and eat the squirmy things again. He was beginning to grow irritated by this voice and argued with it–they're gross, they make me want to puke, I don't want them–yet he still felt compelled to listen to it.

He sat stubbornly, stomach making an awful noise that seemed to echo throughout his home, until he finally gave in and stood.

As soon as he reached full height, the world spun, and he fell to the ground, whimpering slightly. His stomach was making even worse noises, and he realized what was going to happen just in time to shoot towards the pool. The water coming out of his eyes wasn't too big of a deal anymore, as what was left ended up leaving his body anyway.

He needed food, he needed water, and he needed to not lose it every time he put it in. He closed his eyes in thought, trying to come up with an idea, but finding none.

Perhaps one day he would get used to it.


	5. Dumps, also known as Lost And Founds

**Yes hello, I'm back! Sorry everyone, my mental stage is in a very poor place right now. Basically? I feel terrible a lot, but writing is helping me with that! Thank you so so much for all the kind words, follows, and favorites, as they've been really keeping me going. You guys are the real MVPs. **

**Fun fact: This chapter was originally planned as a paragraph to be mentioned in passing. Hopefully, making it longer was a good idea**.

* * *

Splinter was not the type to give up on things just because they were a bit difficult, especially when those things were important to him. He was a firm believer in finishing what he had started, even if doing so would come with turmoil. He also felt that one should always own up to their mistakes, especially in the event that others could be harmed by them.

He had held these philosophies firmly throughout his life, and for the most part, things had been better because he did. However, after weeks of searching for the last little turtle, he felt as though he would have to give up.

He had taken to looking over newspapers for any mention of mutants, knowing that a humanoid turtle would make for interesting news. However, he had found nothing, leading him to believe that no one had found the terrapin. This situation was no more ideal than the thought of him being captured; if the child was maturing at the same rate as his brothers, then he was hardly capable of taking care of himself. Splinter had pushed the thoughts of what the child must be going through to the darkest corners of his mind, refusing to dwell on them. Luckily, he was usually far too busy to think for too long.

The turtles had aged rapidly when they had first mutated, but now, they seemed to have leveled out. They acted like toddlers, albeit strange ones. They were all developing personalities of their own, ones strong enough to set them apart from each other. He could see fires starting in their eyes, and they were filled with passion. If they were like this as children, he could only imagine how they would behave as they grew older.

And imagine he did. Yes, Splinter believed he would be taking care of these children far past adolescence, the bond formed eighteen too strong to just let them take care of themselves. He couldn't tolerate letting any of these boys get hurt, which is why they were no longer allowed to venture to the surface with him.

He couldn't exactly call for a babysitter, so he settled with slipping out of the sewers as soon as they had fallen into a deep sleep. What he did during those walks varied, but it always came down to one thing: survival, usually in the form of food, clothing, or other necessities.

Tonight, he was going to the city dump. Though a large part of him shied away from rummaging through trash, the fact of the matter was that many useful things were thrown away. He couldn't afford to pass up these opportunities, so the dump had become a common place for him to visit. Upon his first arrival, he had found a small hole in the fence, and with only a small amount of digging and tearing, it was large enough to slip through with ease.

Upon finding nothing of interest in the typical areas he looked for, Splinter started going through various boxes. They could be used to carry things, or to form into makeshift beds, especially considering the extravagant size of many of the boxes. They had to have all been discarded at once, as they were all together, piled on top of each other. This was convenient, and he paused to give thanks for the small joys in life. At this point, small joys were all he had, so he relished in every one.

After gathering a significant number of boxes, Splinter started to move towards a nearby set of plastic bins. While those were sturdier than their cardboard equivalents, they were also harder to transport, as they couldn't be broken down. However, he was still going to make sure none of them were particularly helpful rather than leave entirely.

He had only taken a few steps when he heard a noise coming from the exact direction he was walking in. It sounded as though it was only a few yards away, but he saw no one. He wasn't going to stay there to find out if someone was there, though, choosing instead to turn and run as quickly as he could with an armful of boxes.

The night had been less than fulfilling as far as gathering went, but by the time he arrived at his entrance, his heart was racing too quickly from fear of being caught to worry about continuing. That didn't keep him from chastising himself for running. Whatever has made that noise was surely nothing important.

* * *

As far as living went, the last few weeks had been fulfilling.

Granted, Freak had little to compare them to, but it seemed nice enough to him. For a while, he had stayed in his room, entertaining himself. He had learned that he could make various noises, and breaking the silence of his life with anything other than retching was more than enough to cheer him up. Eventually, though, this grew dull as well, and he decided to go back to the surface.

It took a lot of planning, as he didn't exactly trust himself to go up there without being hurt. The only other time he had been up there, he was practically assaulted by some of the people that lived there. That didn't exactly leave him yearning for more.

Boredom ended up beating out sensibility, though. He had studied every corner of his room until he felt he had memorized it, and as much as he hated to think about it, much of the algae was gone.

Luckily enough, his stomach had somewhat adjusted to the slimy substance. It still left his stomach churning, especially when he ate too much if it, but he didn't puke anymore. Eating it was still dreadful, but it was easier to suffer through knowing he wouldn't face the worst consequences.

However, he couldn't continue choking down the green stuff and making weird noises for the rest of his life. He had a family to find, and besides that, he needed more interesting things in life. So he decided to explore a bit.

The first night, he had planned only to go up for a bit. This plan was forgotten about soon after surfacing, when he realized the manhole he had left from was a few feet away from a large fence. In the bottom of this fence, there was a hole, one that he found to be significantly larger than he was upon further investigation.

He was only uncertain for a moment, but as soon as he slid under the fence and looked around the new area, all his doubts disappeared. There was so much to look at, so much to do, and he knew he'd never accomplish it all in one night.

Naturally, he came back almost every night, going through new things as often as he could. It felt like this place was made for him, especially when he realized that new things were arriving all the time.

It was through these nightly explorations that he found cloth similar to what others on the surface wore. As he held up large rectangles of fabric, his first urge was to put them on. That was how he ended up with a gaudy orange 'robe', set up by piling the fabric on his shoulders and letting it fall to the ground, leaving spaces for him to put his arms through. He accented this with a smaller, darker piece of fabric, wrapped around his head as tightly as he could.

These visits also solved the algae issue. There was a lot of edible things in the new area, and they were far easier to munch on than anything he had consumed before. His personal favorite was found in white boxes with symbols he didn't understand. While he usually only got strips of dough, they sometimes came covered with red circles and chunks of brown meat, among many other things.

Tonight, he had been lucky enough to find a piece covered in what looked like every color of the rainbow. He occupied himself by hiding behind a bunch of brightly colored bins, picking off individual chunks to taste them, making chattering noises of varying satisfaction afterwards. A shuffling noise interrupted just as he was holding a green circle above his tongue. With a deep breath to calm himself down, he dropped the fold and crawled over to investigate.

What he saw surprised him, to say the least. It was...he didn't know what it was. Large and covered in fur, it kind of reminded him of the animals that would occasionally run across his feet, much to his distaste. That was impossible, though; this thing was the size of a person, and he'd never seem his animals any larger than the length between his foot and knee. Ever the curious child, he watched the creature, slowing his breathing to a near-comatose rate as he tried to figure out what it was doing.

He would've been happy to observe it for hours, but the thought of it seeing him kept him from standing his ground when it turned in his direction. He ducked down, then looked around wildly until he saw a purple bin laying on its side. Seeing no other option, he dived into it, curling up in a ball and scrunching up his face.

The noise stopped, only to continue seconds later. It sounded as though it was fading, but Freak stayed silent nonetheless for a full minute.

By the time he stood again, the entire area was empty, and his appetite was lost. He was glad he had hidden from the furry person, even if it was at the cost of his night. A thing like that could only ever bring him harm.


End file.
